Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Plunkit

 

June 2021

Pickaway to Garden

Plunkit

By Paul Hang

Not the quarterback Jim Plunkett. I am talking about the way some gardeners, myself included, design their landscapes, their yards, their digs. Every garden book and program says you should start out with a plan. Preferably the plan will be on paper. They mention that first you consider the hardscape, house, shed and outbuildings, paths, perhaps a water feature. Don’t forget fences, walls, trees and shrubs. Once these are in place then you look at where the planting beds will be installed. They always install beds and plant material. I, on the other hand, put or dig beds in. And, I plant plants, not plant material. Then consider drainage patterns of your site. Every plant tag will tell you the plant likes “well drained” soil.

Finally you can get to the fun part of choosing and obtaining (buying) plants. Before you buy any plant “material” you must consider how much sun you have, how much shade, is it dense or partial, dappled? More planning as you consider the characteristics of the plants for your site. You consider bloom time, color, texture; is it coarse or fine-textured foliage? Now for the “rules”; tall plants in back, low plants in front, plant in odd numbers of like plants in groups, repeat groups, choose a focal point. Put the right plant in the right place.

All this is fine and good but how many of us start out with a blank slate? Blank stare maybe but I have always (with one exception) started with a pre-existing house, trees, shrubs, outbuildings, topography and resulting drainage, not to mention the soil. I am getting better but most of my life I have followed the plunkit method. I found a plant I like and I plunked it where there is room. Often, being unsure and indecisive, I plunkit in my driveway garden. You know, by the garage door where any numbers of plants in pots reside until, sometimes years later, you decide where to plant them or they die. It is plant purgatory.

Some of you must know what I am talking about. I can’t be the only one with a driveway garden. Over the years my plunkit method has been refined. When I see a plant I like I read the tag. I know my little plot of earth and I think of where the plant might flourish and fit in. For some of us, there are computer programs and apps that can help in planning ahead and of course you could hire or enlist the aid of a designer. If building from scratch you could hire a landscape architect. For a lot of us who like to do it ourselves the plunkit method will suffice as we tweak our way to the garden we have.

Things to do in the garden:

It is not too late to start a garden. Plants of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are the best bet for early June transplanting. Plants that can be planted from seed in early June are: green beans (successive plantings every three weeks can extend the harvest), beets, carrots, Swiss chard, corn (depending on the variety), cucumber, lettuce, lima beans, muskmelon, winter and summer squash.

To avoid the wilting of cucumber and melon vines cover the new plants with row cover material until the plants flower. Then remove the cover so that the pollinators can do their work. Use row covers on all vegetable plants that do not need to be pollinated: cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, onions and root crops are examples. We eat them before they flower and go to seed, thus no need for them to be pollinated. I have begun to do this on more vegetables and it keeps most pests away. Mulch vegetables in mid-month after the soil has warmed up. You can fertilize all vegetables, corn two times, this month.

Weed and thin plants. Crowding plants more than is recommended results in all the plants doing poorly. Water deeply (not a little each day) one inch per week all summer.  Apply the water to the base of the plants rather than on the foliage. If you use a sprinkler, water early in the day so the foliage can dry before nightfall. Wet foliage overnight encourages fungal diseases to develop.

Remove seed heads from perennials. Don’t allow fancy hybrids to ripen and self-sow as their offspring will not come true. Deadhead flowers for more blooms. Iris can be divided and replanted after blooming. Pinch back mums once they are 4 to 6 inches tall. Continue to pinch back until mid-July.

If your daffodils didn’t bloom well it could be because they are now growing in the shade of trees or shrubs. Or perhaps the daffodils are too crowded. Once the foliage turns yellow you can dig up the bulbs and divide and/or move them.

Fruit trees often shed small fruits in early summer called June Drop. Thin after this occurs. Thin apples to one per cluster and one fruit every four to eight inches. Other tree fruit can be thinned a little less. This will cause bigger fruit. Don’t thin cherries. Pick up all fallen fruit. Only compost fallen fruit if you have a “hot” heap. Otherwise dispose of diseased fruit in the trash.

If you notice a “volunteer” tomato plant in your garden, yank it out or transplant it. Good gardeners, like good farmers, rotate their crops. A volunteer growing in last year’s tomato area allows disease to accumulate in that spot. Mulch under tomatoes keeps the soil from splashing up on the fruits. Soil on the fruits promotes disease. If you don’t stake, trellis or cage your tomatoes and let them sprawl on the ground, mulch will keep the fruit off the bare ground. Mulch keeps the ground from drying out, suppresses weeds and moderates the soil temperature. Several layers of newspaper topped with organic mulch, leaves, untreated grass clippings, coarse compost, shredded bark etc. should do the trick. Never let your tomatoes wilt. Uneven watering causes blossom end rot.

Water your roses well but hold off on the geraniums. They will bloom best when kept somewhat dry. Newly planted trees and bushes should be watered well each week for the first two years if the weather turns dry. Give them a good soaking. Don’t give them a booster feeding of fertilizer this year. Force those young roots to search for food by stretching out into the soil.

The Master Gardener Volunteers Helpline is open for your gardening questions. Call 740-474-7534 with your question or go to www.Pickaway.osu.edu, click on "Ask an expert."

                                                                          

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